Weekend Fun – Page 5 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Father’s Day 2016!

Hello everyone! I wanted to share our Father’s Day this year (I know it’s kinda late). It’s just fun to look back on how we spent our day celebrating with the family. My Dad passed away 3 years ago (Happy Father’s day in Heaven Pa), so it’s just my Dad IL,and my brother(he’s in the Philippines though) who I get to celebrate Fathers day. We had a simple dinner at home for my DIL. My husband went to the asian market and got lots of goodies for his Dad! It’s dangerous if I send Hubs alone to get groceries because he doesn’t stick to my list and blows my grocery budget! My DIL wanted some clams and mussels, so we cooked some in butter and white wine, along with some crabs, some sushi (fresh geoduck and uni), and wagyu steak (so DECADENT and worth the price, IMO). It was a nice sunny Sunday afternoon too,so we had dinner out on our patio. Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there (a belated one!).

Hubs made watermelon juice too!so refreshing and perfect on a summer night!

Vancouver Eats!

Hello friends! This post is a continuation of our Vancouver trip. We had a quick getaway so we weren’t able to dine at some of the restaurants we wanted to try (poor planning on our part too).

Our first night we had dinner at Lupo Restaurant (it’s an Italian resto) and just walking distance from our hotel (so convenient for us). According to our research it’s one of the top 5 places to dine in Vancouver. So off we went! We ordered Burrata and it was amazing! So creamy and out of this world goodness. We loved it so much that we asked our waitress where they get it (so we can go to that store and hoard burrata for ourselves), she said they get it from a supplier which gets it directly from Italy! It crushed our burrata dreams! We ordered ravioli and gnocchi (for the hubs) it was good food but pricey!

2016_05_01_DSC_7394 — Burrata with fresh tomatoes and balsamic glaze.

2016_05_01_DSC_7396 — Ricotta Gnocchi with pork cheeks (this sauce was pretty acidic)

2016_05_01_DSC_7398 — Mascarpone Polenta

2016_05_01_DSC_7399 — This was their special that night, ravioli with short ribs!

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2016_05_01_DSC_7405 — ambiance was cozy, feels like you’re having dinner at a friends house!

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Nero Belgian Waffle Bar

We had brunch in this small waffle place located at Robson Street. We kinda get lucky because the line wasn’t crazy when we got there, once we were seated the line got really crazy! If you’re in to waffles this place is a must! Just be ready to wait and be patient because this place is amazing and people line up.

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2016_05_01_DSC_7454 — I had the Banella waffle

2016_05_01_DSC_7458 — Brie Cheese waffle with walnuts and honey!

Cafe Crepes

The Hubs and I also wanted to eat some crepes before checking out Gastown. The crepes are tasty here, but the service took forever. I don’t understand why, it’s not like they’re serving steaks or complicated dishes. Good thing the crepes were really good!

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We also visited a Japanese restaurant that I honestly forgot the name of:

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Had Ramen one late night!

Tried Vancouver’s best cheesecake:

2016_05_01_DSC_7439 — the famous Soft Peaks at Gastown!

2016_05_01_DSC_7443 — I kinda agree that this is one of the best cheesecake I’ve had!

Footo Croissant and Tim Hortons before coming home!

Till Next time Vancouver!

Vancouver, Canada!

Hi friends! It’s been a while since my last post, got a little busy here and did a little get away with the Hubs to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Two weeks ago, we spent 4 days in Vancouver, Canada. It’s just 3 hours drive from our place (plus more depending on the traffic). We’ve been to Vancouver a couple of times before. We really like the city. It reminds us of Seattle, but a lot bigger. We mostly relaxed and did a few “touristy” things like visited Gas town, Stanley Park and window shopping at Robson St. We stayed at Rosedale on Robson. We really liked the location because it’s so accessible to downtown Vancouver. Till Next time Vancouver!

2016_05_01_DSC_7391 — we had a mini kitchen!

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2016_05_01_DSC_7431 — The famous Steam Clock at Gas town!

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2016_05_01_DSC_7512 — Forgot the name of the place, but this is where their soccer games are held!

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Gotta have Tim Hortons when you’re in Canada!

Happy Easter!

Hi friends! Long time no hear from me (it’s been a busy March here). Anyways, Happy Easter! As a Christian, we celebrate today as resurrection Sunday. The day that Jesus rose from the grave. He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Thank You Jesus for what you’ve done for our sake, we are so unworthy yet you died for us all. The greatest love story that the whole world will ever know!

After our easter service, the Hubs and I together with our In laws had brunch at Embassy suites hotel (a Hilton affiliated hotel) we’ve been going to this brunch buffet for a couple of years now except last year (they had to renovate, so they closed the buffet section). The buffet had a decent selection but I was disappointed today because their meat (their beef, and lamb) was really dry. Their bread wasn’t very good too. Poor Hubs and Dad In law, they both love bread. The ambiance and the service was great though!

I hope that you had a lovely Easter weekend with your family and friends! I’m off to watch College basketball here. The Hubs is enjoying his Sunday nap, together with our fur baby, Riley! Have a great evening friends.

Weekend Fun!

Hi Friends! I hope you’re all having a great Saturday! It’s been a rainy weekend here in the PNW and we’ve stayed inside most of the time. I wanted to share some pictures of our weekend fun a couple of weeks ago. We watched the ballet version of Romeo and Juliet! It’s funny because this was our second time watching this ballet and I honestly don’t remember watching it the first time and neither did my husband. The show was good, but it was kinda slow for us. We will most likely not watch it again.

We had Mexican for dinner after the show! We really like our local Mexican place, authentic Mexican food and reasonable prices. They have the best Carne asada for me.

Today, I got up early and convinced the Hubs to get breakfast at Chick fil-A. If he had a choice he’d rather sleep in than eat! We almost didn’t make it before their breakfast hours ended. They were changing their menu when it was our time to order! I ordered their sausage burrito but they gave me a chicken burrito instead. Unfortunately we were already on the freeway when we realized the mistake. Oh Well! I didn’t like it:( No chicken burritos for me in the future for sure!

After breakfast my Dad In law dropped by to give us this maple tree (Hubs said it’s going to be pretty during the fall season.)

I’m kinda sad my favorite Filipino romcom show is over! “On the wings of love” is the only filipino show that I’ve watched from start to finish. They had a live viewing of the Finale and I was able to watch it live! I had to set the alarm for 5 am! HA! It was worth it though, I was so KILIG! Honestly, I don’t like most filipino drama/comedy shows personally. I subscribe to the Filipino Channel mainly because of the news, I still want to be updated in whats going on the Philippines.

Hubs and the puppy napping on this rainy Saturday afternoon!

Mexican dinner at La Casita (a new Mexican place for us)

Have a great evening friends! Off to watching the NBA game right now!

Valentine’s 2016!

Hi Friends! Happy Hearts day to you and I hope it’s one lovely day with the special people in your life. On Valentines evening, we had dinner with my In laws at SEASTAR restaurant and raw bar (Bellevue location). Originally we wanted to do the Canlis restaurant but it was fully booked (I guess you have to book months in advance for this kind of place). Seastar was also a good recommendation from my In law’s friends so we didn’t mind (especially since it is also owned by Chef John Howie). I was looking forward to this dinner because based from what I’ve read it’s one of the BEST restaurants in Bellevue. It was our first time, so I kinda had high expectations when it comes to a Chef John Howie restaurant. Anyways, the place was spacious, ambiance was great, our server was very knowledgeable she answered every question my DIL had. We enjoyed our appetizers, they were all amazing especially the deviled eggs. Our entrees were good (nice presentation too) but to be honest VERY pricey for the portion we got. I guess you have to bring LOTS of money dining here. We’ll be back again for sure.

Some pictorials while waiting for the In Laws!

OOTD action going on: Loft dress, F21 coat, kate spade bag, target booties

Deviled eggs:salmon gravlax,wasabi tobiko,tangerine,dill. We also got the ahi tartare,bacon, roasted onion,truffle oil.

Maytag blue cheese pear salad (this was good)

I ordered: Sesame-Peppercorn Crusted Ahi (jasmine rice cake,snow peas,ginger soy reduction,wasabi creme)

My DILs order: Cedar Plank roasted wild King Salmon (Chef Howie’s famous salmon rub,smoked broccoli,citrus rice with wheat berries

my MIL and SIL ordered the same thing: seared scallops with beet risotto

For Valentines day we had a casual and lazy time, watched Kdrama (thank you Netflix!), did some errands and had dinner at our fave local Italian place.

Normally we don’t give Vday gifts to each other but this year Hubs and I gave each other gifts. He got me a Henri Bendel bag (my fave bag brand!) and I gave him massage “coupons” worth 4 hours, which he already availed 1 hour of it (way before VDAY!!)..HA!!

Riley thought it was one busy VDAY weekend, and he needs his beauty sleep!

Happy New Year!

Hello 2016! How was your New years day friends? Ours was relaxing, the way I like it! NYeve we had Zach’s parents over and we ordered sushi and Chinese food. We watched the times square celebration on tv and then called it a night! This was the first time we missed the Space needle countdown celebration. It was just a long day for us. I’ve been having a cold for the last couple of days (I’m sleep deprived lately) and Zach did some errands with his dad most of the day yesterday. This afternoon, we had a little family walk. Riley loved it and had a blast. I hope you’re having a great 1st day of the year so far!

My mom in law gifted me this cookbook! Browsing while enjoying my coffee!

Christmas 2015!

Hello friends! We hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Christmas this year. Ours was a simple one full of family time and going to Church on Christmas eve. For our tradition, we always spend Christmas eve dinner at Zach’s grandmother’s house ( his mom’s side) where we have dinner and exchange gifts (white elephant). We had Mexican food this year and everything turned out great. We bought some skirt steak and made carne asada and guacamole. It was a big hit! Zach helped a lot with the food, so thank you Ga!

We went to Church before going to grandma’s house:

Christmas Eve dinner:

On Christmas day, we “hosted” at home and had my In laws the whole day. We had breakfast, read Jesus’ birth story, opened gifts, watched Christmas movies, my Parent In laws walked the dogs, then we prepared dinner (mostly seafood and Zach made Lobster Mac and cheese), he used Ina Garten’s recipe and it was great!

Christmas Breakfast was Cheddar cheese popovers,Bacon,Bread pudding,fruit salads!

Lobster Mac and Cheese (recipe:Ina Garten)

King Crab Legs!

Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Pie

Thanks to our families for all the gifts and goodies we have received this year! Thank you for thinking of us and your generosity is so appreciated! Happy Birthday Jesus!

Riley got a new toy!

I got like a 3 month supply of Kcups!

Tory Burch York bag from Hubs!

Merry Christmas Eve eve!

Hi friends! Merry Christmas Eve eve! Just wanted to share my Christmas decorations this year. We got a new Christmas tree for this year which was on sale last year. We like it, but we know nothing beats a real tree. We’ve experienced having a real tree before and personally it’s not worth it for me (maybe that will change next year!). The old one I put in our master bedroom. I simplified our decorations this year (aside from the new tree, all are old decorations). I skipped decorations on our stairs, and kitchen. I did put a santa figurine in the kitchen and a little frame in our coffee area and that’s about it. My Mom In Law Kathy also gave us Zach and Julia’s (my Sis IL) old toys and toy box from their childhood. I think these toys we’re 20-25 years old. So many of them, but I decided to only put half of them out because Riley thinks they are his toys and he keeps on trying to get them.

My nativity set that my Mom In Law gifted me years ago.

My nutcracker figurines on display in our little extra room.

Riley about to attack the toy box here!

Riley being a naughty schnauzer!

Our old Christmas tree I put in our master bedroom!

Coffee area!

Hello there Santa!

Our Christmas card 2015. Merry Christmas friends! We pray for Joy, Love, and God’s Peace on you this time of year!

For to us a CHILD IS BORN,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, PRINCE OF PEACE. (Isaiah 9:6)

Snowflake Lane!

Hi friends! Happy weekend! I can’t believe Christmas is almost here? I’m so glad I’m done with my Christmas shopping and gift wrapping so I can just focus on Christ (the real reason for Christmas!) and focus on my husband/family time. Planning makes a big difference. Today, we went to see the Snowflake lane event at Bellevue and it was a fun night. My favorite was the fake snow, the music and lights were great too! There was a ton of traffic and we couldn’t find parking for 30 minutes,but that’s OK (It’s expected after all since it’s the last weekend before Christmas). We had dinner before going to the event, so we’re all good!

We had dinner at Spice restaurant (it’s in the crossroads / bellevue area)

Braised Pork Belly! So Good, our fave at this place!

Braised Pork Hocks or Patatim (in Philippines)

After dinner! We’re off to the Snowflake Lane fun:

Some of the pictures are from my Ipad so it’s kinda blurry.

It was a cold night, Hot chocolate was in order when we got home. I love my new Lenox personalized mugs and plate that I got during their black Friday sale last month! So pretty and perfect this time of year.